Before we begin, let’s get caught up on a few Lake County Transportation topics.

Tri-State Rebuild and Widen: Trucking right along, although I can’t resist asking “Are we there yet?” about the completion date. The northbound express lane recently disappeared and there are three all-access northbound lanes now.

Route 53: Aside from the “yes” vote registered on the 2009 referendum, I haven’t heard much else about 53. Note that the referendum’s passage didn’t mean 53 was going to happen any time soon, but Lake County voters have made their opinions known. Let me know when the earth movers show up.

Construction: There’s quite a bit of it. Methinks federal stimulus money is spurring construction jobs and roadwork-induced commuter headaches well into late fall/early winter this year. Hopefully a bit of short-term motorist pain will give way to long-term motorist relief, at least until the housing market picks up and population increases. Lake County Passage’s text-only Mobile web page provides a quick glance of what’s underway. Commuters are especially delayed by the various projects around Rt. 22, which coupled with limited escape routing through woodsy burbs makes this road a much-groaned-about topic.

Q.: “My co-workers and I are looking for information of the upcoming road work just off I-94 southbound that merges into 41 just south of russell road. Signs are posted stating that construction will begin early March – we are seeing activity by the bridge. Will this exist [sic] be closed? What is the actual date and is there an alternate detour planned? I could not find any information about this pending construction. Many Wisconsin motorists travel this route heading south on 94 and take the left hand lane exit to enter 41. Any information concerning this construction would help us figure are new route and help stop back-up traffic that could occur.”

I can tell that people are heading back to work after holiday vacations because the northbound Tri-State traffic was awful this evening. The southbound drive wasn’t too bad this morning, so I was lulled into a false sense of traffic security and thought to myself “why not take the tollway home instead of the surface streets?”

After several minutes of stop-and-go traffic worsened by a multi-car accident off to the side at Half-Day Road, I exited at Route 60 and decided to take my chances with it and Route 45. Ahh, that route was much better and its traffic moved rather smoothly.

And to think: the full construction workload resumes soon, so things will only get slower on the Tri-State. For me, “back to work” means back to avoiding the Tri-State during rush hour.